Rainton Waggonway, branch to Nicholson Pit

With the development of more effective pumping engines to drain previously unworkable deep coal seams and the development of nucleated collieries, the Rainton Waggonway, especially its southern lines, was extensively upgraded and re-organised by the Tempests, to whom it had passed by marriage from the Whartons in 1730. A number of new branch lines to collieries were constructed between 1816 and 1826. The line to Nicholson Pit, to the north-east of Rainton Meadows, was opened in 1817.